


Of Shoelaces and Schnapps

by mambo



Series: four years of college and plenty of knowledge [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Art School is Hard, College AU, Frat Boy!Bucky, M/M, Punk!Steve, Skinny!Steve, so fluffy i could die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-14
Updated: 2014-10-14
Packaged: 2018-02-21 03:24:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2452928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mambo/pseuds/mambo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky and his fraternity brothers visit Steve's art instillation at 3 in the morning. Shenanigans ensue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Shoelaces and Schnapps

**Author's Note:**

> From a Tumblr prompt by (the always awesome) magicpreppy: art school 3am freakouts are better with friends.

Steve never asked for this.

All he wanted was Bucky’s opinion on his installation piece.

Because, yeah, this instillation art class hasn’t been going super well for Steve, and he was just so worried that people wouldn’t get it that he called Bucky at 2:45 am on the Saturday before it’s due, asking him to come over and give it a look. What he didn’t expect was for Bucky to bring along Dum Dum and Gabe and Jacques and Jim. And a bottle of schnapps.

“My dad sent it after his trip to Germany,” Dum Dum exlpains as he pours Steve a healthy amount into a red Solo Cup that they had stashed in Jacques’s backpack. “Real good stuff, but it’ll knock you flat.”

Steve glares at Bucky, who grins at Steve with his loopy, drunken smile.

“You didn’t sound drunk on the phone,” Steve accuses as Bucky slides an arm around his shoulders and plants a wet, sloppy kiss on Steve’s cheek.

“Wanted to see you,” he whispers in Steve’s ear, nosing at hair. And there goes all that righteous anger. Sometimes Steve thinks he could just melt into Bucky’s touch and he wouldn’t even mind. “‘Sides,” Bucky adds, a little louder. “You and I both know I don’t got an eye for art. Jim’s an art minor; he’ll tell ya if it’s good.”

Jim nods encouragingly, looking around at the room admiringly.

“This is pretty amazing, Steve. How long did this take you?”

The room is entirely covered in dangling shoelaces, each painstakingly tied together and taped up to the ceiling. They’re all in different colors—though all solids, no patterns—and they’re just low enough that they whack most people in the face while they’re walking in. It’s supposed to be a sort of corporate, capitalist canopy, but really Steve just likes shoelaces and has found that he’s not super into instillation art after all. That didn’t stop him from measuring out each shoelace, making sure that they all dangled at an identical length, giving it a sort of eerie similarity, despite the different colors of the shoelaces.

“A few weeks,” Steve says, still bitter about the way his hands are sore from the hours he spent knotting shoelaces together.

“It’s cozy,” Dum Dum declares, Jacques nodding along eagerly. “Perfect place for a nightcap.”  
Gabe shakes his head, but he’s grinning. “Think you’ve had enough nightcaps for one night,” he says.

“Bah,” Dum Dum replies, actually drunk enough that his ‘bah’ is sincere. “Haven’t toasted with Steve Rogers yet, so I can’t call it a night. C’mon Bucky, let the love of your young life go for a moment so he can socialize with the big kids.”

Bucky grips Steve a little tighter a moment before loosening up and gently nudging Steve over to Dum Dum. “Quicker you give that lunk a toast the quicker you can come back to me.”

Steve feels heat rising in his cheeks because yeah, it feels like he and Bucky have been together forever at this point, but the moments like this, where Bucky doesn’t have to look at him with hooded eyes and a half-smirk but he chooses to, these moments make Steve feel like the world’s blacked out around them—or is maybe lost in the haze of a couple thousand shoelaces—and that they’re the only ones who even exist anymore.  
But then the haze is broken by Dum Dum grabbing Steve’s arm, positioning his cup-holding hand upwards, ready to click Dum Dum’s after whatever pronouncement Dum Dum chooses to make.

“I propose a toast,” he announces and Gabe, Jacques and Jim stop chatting—they were chatting? Steve hadn’t noticed, not with Bucky’s strong arm around him—and raise their glasses as well. “To alcohol, Steve Rogers and the future of art.”

“Here, here!” Bucky yells as Steve clinks his cup with Dum Dum’s before taking a good, long sip. He deserves it. It’s been a long, long night. The schnapps is sweet and makes him feel warm as he swallows. Gabe starts playing some bass-driven pop song on his iPod as Bucky reclaims his spot next to Steve.

“It’s real good, Stevie,” Bucky says, grinning as the shoelaces cover half his face. “It’s beautiful.”

“You think so?” Steve says, wrapping an arm around Bucky’s waist and leaning into his big, warm boyfriend.

“Yeah buddy,” he says leaning down and planting a kiss on Steve’s hair. “I do.”

Maybe Steve won’t get an A, but the feeling of shoelaces gently brushing his head as Bucky pulls him close and kisses Steve’s grinning mouth, well, that’s an A+ in his book.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have stuck with this series for five parts (already? how?), then perhaps you'd like to stick with me at whtaft.tumblr.com. Sometimes I write things there, and oftentimes I'll let you tell me what to write. If that sweetens the deal.


End file.
